Understanding the Medical Information Bureau

Do you know what the Medical Information Bureau is, and how it affects your life insurance application? We all know what a Carfax is these days — or a vehicle history report. It’s a normal part of consumer transactions to have this information ready. These days, many people won’t purchase a vehicle without this info. What if there were HUMAN history reports, where all our medical records and information were kept in one place?

As it turns out, that kind of information does exist. Life insurance companies access this information to determine the risk of creating a policy for you. This form is called the MIB report, or Medical Information Bureau Report.

What is a MIB Report?

A MIB report is information pulled from the Medical Information Bureau by insurance companies to determine your health and behavioral history and other key descriptors.  Some of these itemizations determine high-risk behavior, such as driving history.

The key goal of providing this document is to prevent fraud. Of course, you’re not going to try to defraud insurance companies, right? Unfortunately, many people do! Because of high premiums or the possibility of being denied coverage, many applicants attempt to withhold or give false information to companies. This bureau is in place to help quell these types of false application answers or omission issues.

The MIB has been around since 1902 and was created with the specific goal of assisting insurance companies with medical info. The information collected about you is statistical in nature, and also qualitative, based on previous applications. This organization is set up to eliminate privacy concerns — you must sign for your paperwork to be submitted to your underwriter, and there’s no concern with your data being bought, compromised or stolen in any way.

What is the MIB required to report?

Everything reported is covered by US HIPAA guidelines to ensure your absolute privacy. The sole purpose of the MIB in this instance is to eliminate fraud. Your entire medical history won’t appear in your MIB. Your insurance company will be able to see information like previous life insurance applications, hospitalizations, and related information. MIB reports supply an abbreviated, not necessarily complete, medical history.

How do I get a copy of my MIB report?

As a consumer, you’re entitled to your information and can absolutely access it. You can request a copy online here:

Anytime you’ve applied for a policy, this info is eventually updated. If you don’t have any data available, then it’s likely you haven’t applied for coverage. before. If you see details you don’t agree with, you can also dispute items in your MIB report if needed.

If you’d like more information about the MIB report and how it relates to the life insurance application process, let us know! We can help.